Henry Tayali: Difference between revisions

| birth_place = [[Serenje]], [[Northern Rhodesia]]

| death_place = Aachen, Germany

Tayali was very interested in art from birth. When the family was in Bulawayo, Tayali's natural talent was spotted early on by Alex Lambeth, who ran the African Affairs Department of Bulawayo City Council. Lambeth encouraged Tayali to pursue art as a career, and enrolled him on an artwork course. This led to Henry's first exhibition in Bulawayo at the age of fifteen.<ref name="htayali b"/><ref name="VAC">{{cite web|url=http://www.sadcbiz.com/countries/zambia/categories/arts/adverts/national_visual_arts/index.html|title=Henry Tayali|publisher=Zambia National Visual Arts Council|accessdate=22 May 2009}}</ref> His painting career took off after that, and using water colours, Tayali begun to produce varied, vibrant, dynamic works such as ''Sunset Road'' and ''Destiny''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Echoes of Suffering - Zambia's Henry Tayali: An Artist of International Stature|date=March 1993|work=Ndeke - Zambia Airways In-flight Magazine|issue=37|pages=28–32}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Henry Tayali|year=1988|work=African Sunrise|pages=43–47}}</ref> He also produced sculptures - amongst them ''The Graduate''<ref>{{cite news|title=The Graduate|page=4|date=3 April 1979|work=Times of Zambia}}</ref> at the University of Zambia campus in Lusaka, as well as Screen-printing|silk-screens and woodcuts, a few of these were printed as greeting cards and sold through newsagents and book stores. Tayali held exhibitions in Lusaka, Bulawayo, Aachen, Düsseldorf, London (Commonwealth Institute, 1983), Alberta, and Toronto as well as in Zambia, where a few of his exhibitions were opened by [[Kenneth Kaunda]], the first President of Zambia.<ref name="tembo">{{cite news|title=Art Has a bright Future - If Taken Seriously|last=Tembo|first=Franklin|date=9 July 1978|work=Times of Zambia}}</ref> He was associated with artists, authors and politicians, including Simon and Cynthia Zukas,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sdjewishjournal.com/site/1283/travel-the-jews-of-zambia/|last=Leib|first=Sharon Rosen|title=Travel – The Jews of Zambia|publisher=San Diego Jewish|date=October 2010|accessdate=8 October 2014}}</ref> Andrew Sardanis<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.times.co.zm/news/viewnews.cgi?category=8&id=1140635741|title=Chaminuka: Place on the Hill|accessdate=11 June 2009}}</ref> (whose property at Chaminuka houses an impressive collection of Tayali's paintings and sculptures amongst others, and is well worth a visit) and American Professor Melvin Edwards<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bookrags.com/biography/melvin-edwards/|title=Melvin Edwards Biography|accessdate=11 June 2009}}</ref> at home and abroad, many of them becoming lifelong friends. There were also joint exhibitions and support, such as that provided by the Alliance Francaise.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.times.co.zm/news/viewnews.cgi?category=7&id=1084930426|title=Kala refugees want training opportunities|last=Kachingwe|first=Kelvin|work=[[Times of Zambia]]|accessdate=12 June 2009}}</ref>

Tayali was also a keen photographer, having studied photography for his Masters, and always carried his trusted Leica SLR camera with him wherever he went. On his projects for the University, he produced a huge catalogue of photographs (often developing the prints himself, and having photographic slides made) of artefacts and people - something he worked hard for as a record for posterity.<ref name="tayali">{{cite book|last=Tayali|first=Henry|author2=Joe Kivubiro|title=Images of Southern Africa: An Exhibition of Graphics|publisher=Flinders University of South Australia|year=1987|isbn=978-0-7258-0360-5}}</ref> Some of the photographs he took on his field trips around Zambia were turned into postcards.

Other work included efforts to establish a School of Fine Arts in Zambia and numerous field trips within Zambia to record and preserve the arts and cultures of the various tribes for posterity - including audio recordings. He was involved in organising the attendance - and was part - of the Zambian delegation at the groundbreaking Second African Festival of Arts and Culture in Lagos, Nigeria, 1977 (FESTAC'77).<ref name="FESTAC77">{{cite web|url=http://nigerianwiki.com/wiki/Festac_77|title=FESTAC'77|accessdate=2011-11-11}}</ref>

As a young man, Tayali had started his painting using water colours, producing works of great detail, vividness and vibrancy - his depiction of human figures similar in style to the Italian Renaissance painter Michelangelo (e.g. his watercolours held at the US [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archive]]: see External Links below) - before progressing to oil paintings. His paintings evolved from the fine art style of the late 1950s/1960s/early 1970s, to semi-abstract, through to abstract, and then edging to minimalism at the time of his death. His paintings were distinctive, blending African and Western styles, reflecting the influences on his life.

From a young age, Tayali had always been interested in sculptures and modelling - and he went on to produce sculptures such as [http://www.unza.zm The Graduate] seen here on the banner of the University of Zambia web-page, at the UNZA Great East Road campus. Funded by donations from the Zambia State Lottery, the Anglo-American Corporation and some individuals, it depicts a graduating student in his flowing gown and mortar board hat, the book in his left hand signifying progress through learning in the modern world, and the hoe in the right hand the hard work and progress through agriculture that has underpinned the country in general. He also produced a huge sculpture of a bird (work in concrete) at the Kapiri Mposhi railway station - the terminus end of the mid-seventies Chinese built [[Tazara]] (TAnzania ZAmbia RAilway) railway, whose other end is in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania's capital on the Indian Ocean coast. From about 1976, he started working with welded metal sculptures. Initially these were fairly simple as he was new to the medium and its techniques, but by the time of his death they had a majestic complexity to them - probably the most famous example is The Bull, which was mounted on the road to [[Lusaka International Airport]].

Writing in 1980, the American academic Bob Barde placed Tayali's woodcut prints on a par with Europe's great printmakers such as Käthe Kollwitz and Théodore Géricault.<ref name="barde"/> Tayali's woodcut subjects were usually about the common African man (and woman), and the feelings evoked by his daily travails, and the prevailing political landscape of the times. Barde described his prints as "powerful" and said that he "seems destined to play an important role in modern African art."

Throughout his life, Henry Tayali was indefatigable, driven to achieve his goals. A teetotaller, he espoused a dedicated work ethic, which he followed, often working - both as a student, and as an adult - very long hours each day in order to complete the tasks he had set himself. This was in spite of the fact that he was plagued by persistent stomach pains in his adult life after accidentally ingesting slivers of broken glass whilst drinking from a Coca-Cola bottle when he was a teenager.